Our Ref: FOI-2686-1920

FOI Request – AVC Scheme

Thank you for your letter received on 7 November 2019 asking for information about the additional voluntary contribution (AVC) pension scheme.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and TfL’s information access policy. I can confirm TfL does hold the information you require.

Unfortunately, to provide the information you have requested would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described.

We have estimated that it would cost in excess of the appropriate limit to provide a response to your current request. This is because it is estimated that it would take over 18 working hours to retrieve and compile the information you have requested.

The information you have requested is not recorded centrally. In order to identify and extract the requested data we would first have to identify all AVC payments over the last seven years and then match that up with dates of leaving for every individual who has left TfL. Between 2015/16 and 2018/19 there were 2,333 leavers. We estimate that there would be approximately 4,000 individual records that would need to be reviewed to extract the requested information.

To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider narrowing its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. If you want to refine your request or make a Freedom of Information Act request in future, please bear in mind that the Freedom of Information Act allows you to request recorded information held by TfL. You should identify the information that you want as clearly and concisely as you can, specifying the types of document that you are looking for. You might also consider limiting your request to a shorter period of time.

Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, TfL does not have to answer your question if it would require the creation of new information or the provision of a judgement, explanation, advice or opinion that was not already recorded at the time of your request.

Please note that we will not be taking further action until we receive your revised request.

In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to discuss your request, please feel free to contact me.

Please see the enclosed information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely

Gemma Jacob
FOI Case Officer
[email protected]